Committee backs bill to create state homelessness-prevention program under DCA

House Bill 689, which would establish a homelessness-prevention grant program under the Department of Community Affairs, moved forward after a voice vote in the State Planning and Community Affairs Committee on March 3.

The legislation would authorize the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to create a state program to provide grants to local organizations for eviction-prevention and rental-assistance work if the General Assembly appropriates funds to do so, Chairman Carpenter said during the committee meeting.

The bill matters because federal emergency rental assistance, issued after the COVID-19 pandemic, is due to run out in September and committee members said there remains ongoing need. “Emergency rental assistance has helped over 61,000 people remain in their homes between the years of ’21 and ’23,” Chairman Carpenter said, adding that rising rents and food costs continue to pressure households.

Under the bill’s framework, DCA would be able to accept federal funds and partner with local governments and private-sector organizations to distribute grants, with provisions meant to encourage geographic distribution so one part of the state would not receive a disproportionate share. The measure does not itself appropriate money; it would allow appropriations to be made only through the normal budget process, Carpenter said.

Committee members asked how the bill would relate to the existing State Housing Trust Fund. Representative Barry asked whether HB 689 would increase the trust fund’s effectiveness; Carpenter replied the bill creates a separate program intended to serve people who do not meet qualification criteria for other existing programs.

Representative Jones asked whether people already experiencing homelessness would be eligible. Carpenter said the bill is focused on eviction-prevention — “to stop the flow of people before they get to the homeless state” — and would not be targeted at services for people already homeless.

Members also discussed timing and cost. Carpenter said the bill carries no fiscal note as written because any spending would require a later appropriation. He estimated the existing ARPA-funded effort is running “about $2,000,000 a month” and that HB 689 is not intended to replicate that full scale immediately; instead, he described it as a vehicle to fund more modest, demonstrable pilot efforts that could later be expanded through appropriations.

After brief discussion the committee voted by voice to approve the bill and move it forward. The record does not show a roll-call tally in the transcript.

The bill creates an enabling mechanism rather than an immediate program or appropriation; implementation would depend on subsequent budget actions and any rules DCA adopts if funding is provided.